


Un Battito Ancora

by panna_acida



Series: Dragon Tales [1]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alpha Stephen Strange, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dragon shifter, M/M, Omega Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 09:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20328895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panna_acida/pseuds/panna_acida
Summary: A thud. A whimper. Copper and death smell, buried beneath other rancid smell, Stephen could detect life, barely but was there, buried beneath the smell of orange and something else, something spicy and hearty that pulled all of his human string. Something he couldn’t quite put his nose into. Something alive and warm.





	Un Battito Ancora

**Author's Note:**

> First and last installament of the "Dragon Rage Series" I hope all of you enjoyed the ride.

_ Un uomo dal viso pallido, e pelle gelida comparirà sulla soglia dell'oscurità portando con sé una luce degna dell'umanità. _

_ Una bestia dal cuore caldo, ed occhi rossi si inginocchierà vicino alla luce, e allora tutto il mondo riconoscerà la loro beltà. Li venererà. Li odierà e li caccerà, ed il mondo nel caos cadrà. _

_ \----- _

A thud. A whimper. Copper and death smell, buried beneath other rancid smell, Stephen could detect life, barely but was there, buried beneath the smell of orange and something else, something spicy and hearty that pulled all of his human string. Something he couldn’t quite put his nose into. Something alive and warm.

Stephen slowly raised his head from the soft pile of fabrics he was lying on, looked around the cave and toward the exit where the smell came from. With a tired puff of smoke coming out of his nose, Stephen raised his massive body and started to move toward the exit, slowly shifting into his human form.

In complete silence, completely naked, and with some scale still covering part of his body, Stephen reached a body, _ pale body _ . “Dead?” whispered with a raspy and unused voice, poking the body, _ cold body _, with his bare feet. “Alive?” Whispered again, slowly kneeling beside the figure, when a feeble blue light flickered over the body. “Alive?” Stephen repeated again, tilting his head, and with gentle and trembling finger unbuttoned the human bloody shirt, revealing a beautiful stone embedded in the man chest. Stephen with reverence and a lot of curiosity started to move his finger over the form tracing the curve of the naked chest, never touching the stone, even if it was calling him and pulling at his magic, feeling the soft cold skin under his touch when a little and weak heartbeat shook the body.

“Still alive!” Stephen whispered in awe, moving a little just to be able to put both his hand over the uncovered skin. Closed his eyes and let his magic flow freely in the body beneath him, searching, feeling and… and a wave of sadness, pain, unrequited love washed over him making his eyes water and his body fall back on the cold stone behind him, trembling with unnamed feeling. But growing others, like yearning that body, craving to protect and cherish, craving to mate, making that human his and never let him go. _ Never _.

“What the...?” Stephen groaned, going to rub his eyes trying to push away memories, of torture, of neglect, of people he didn’t know. But sure enough memories of the person now finally breathing normally, but still passed out in front of him. 

Stephen just raised slowly from where he fell few second before, like he was moving through a bubble, picked the _ bleeding _body, easely in his arms and moved toward the forgotten and dusty bed on the side of the cave. He needed to understand what was happening, he needed to know who the man was, and why the stone called him. Why his heart ached for the unconscious man in his arms. He needed answer.

\-----

Days passed melting one in another. Night didn’t felt so cold like before, and a new strange feeling started to blossom in Stephen old heart. 

The mysterious man, driftet on and off an unconscious state during his days in the bed, mumbling incomprehensive words to Stephen old ears, words in a forgotten language, words talking about a prophecy he couldn’t comprehend, words melting together forming nothing but music for his lonely soul.

For the first time in a lifetimes spent hidden from the world, in a dark cave, Stephen didn’t felt threatened. Felt at peace.

Taking a deep breath, Stephen moved now his more steady hand toward the bandage ready to change them when a hand shoot out grabbing his and two beautiful brown, with a glint of gold, colored eyes, filled with fear fixed his, with the intensity of a burning star.

“Who are you?” A raspy voice asked, while the hand slowly loosened his grip falling back on the soft sheets.

“The one that saved your life Omega” Stephen answered back, shaking his head. Letting word fall out of his mouth.

“That doesn’t answer the question… Alpha.” Tony groaned back, wincing the moment he tried to do on the soft mattress.

“Careful little one.” Stephen hand shot out without touching the other, but stopping any movement from the Omega.

“Tony” At the perplexed expression crossing the man face, Tony repeated again. “Tony, is my name, not Omega, not little one, I am Tony.” Tony said closing his eyes, moving slowly his shaking hands over his chest reaching the now exposed stone, his eyes shot open and Tony jolted up screaming in pain and nearly fell face first on the floor, if not for Stephen arms stopping his fall.

“Careful.” Stephen said gently, helping Tony back on the bed. “My name is... _ Stephen _” The Alpha continued not used to hearing that name, a name he almost forgot. “Stephen” Ended more secure with a little nod, going back to focus his attention to the other man. “I didn’t do anything to the stone, if not pushing inside a little bit of my magic, just to restore the one already inside it” Stephen explained in a calm voice letting his words…

“So you were the one calling me?” Tony voice filled the little silence created from Stephen pause, stopping the Alpha from saying anything else.

“Me?” Stephen asked puzzled, not understanding what Tony was talking about.

“The voice I was hearing in my head, the entire time it…” Tony took a deep, shaky breath before going on “sounds just like yours.” Ended short of breath, going to clutch the stone, letting blue light filter through his finger and cast a dark shadow over their face. Dark and ominous shadow, around them.

A little puff of smoke escaped Stephen lips in the stillness of the air, and two trembling fingers reached out, slowly sliding down his face and stopping just in the juncture between neck and shoulder, scratching and rubbing the same spot over and over with some kind of fascination, growing on Tony face.

“You are not human.” Tony just blurted out with fascination, without moving his eyes from Stephen face, and never stopping his hand.

Stephen shivered at the statement, nodding slowly, feeling the loss of that gentle, trembling, hand on his heated skin. Hand that fell back on the mattress with a gentle thud.

“A Dragon shifter.” Stephen admitted in a hushed tone, lowering his eyes, fearing what already happened in the past. Already covering his heart in walls ready for rejection, fear, disgust and…

“Woah...” Tony gentle and awed voice made Stephen eyes shot up again, and fix in Tony’s, _ golden? _, one. “Can I see you?” The Omega asked in a hushed , and at the same time excited tone. “The real you, your dragon form, I mean…” Continued talking over himself, in a frenzy to clarify what he mean.

Stephen started to laugh, laugh for real. Laugh like it never happened, not since his self inflicted exile. _ Not like… never, actually _. Laughing was so liberating, fresh like the breath of life the Omega in front of him took with him in his dark world.

Tony just blinked staring back and smiling, not understand what was happening in front of him, but at the same time happy for the change in the Alpha face. Pleased, because he was the one that made that little change happen.

With the laugh dying down, Stephen just nodded at the request moving away from the bed, noticing the change in the Omega posture, the moment he was moving away. Tense and sad at the same time.

“It’s ok, I just need some space.” Stephen assured him reaching out with one hand to move away some strand of hair from Tony face, still looking the other man in the eyes even in the poorly lit cave.

“Right” Tony whispered relaxing a little at the touch, letting Stephen move and trying to not let his emotion gush out, like it already happened few second before. Taking a deep breath Tony closed his eyes and in a gush of hot wind everything changed, making Tony’s eyes snap open back again.

Stephen morphed from the beautiful human that was taking care of him, to a majestic Dragon with blue scale fading to a blood red toward the end of the tail and the wings, that flapped few times, before settling on his back like a giant red cloak.

“Amazing” Tony breathed out in awe, stretching out one hand toward the majestic creature, trying to sit on the bed and failing. 

At the little gesture and at the awed tone, Stephen just lowered his snout to let Tony touch him with his cold little hand, letting out little and controlled puff of smoke, much to Tony delight.

Human were such unic creature, so delicate, and yet so strong in their tiny form. But this one, this one was special. This one pulled some string in Stephen old heart, that he thought was dead, and only cold stone. _ This one is special _. Stephen thought closing his eyes and curling, in his Dragon form, near the bed just to let Tony touch him, just to let his massive body warm the tiny trembling human, and let that hand move over his body in such beautiful and tender way.

\----

The days passed in a blur of night and days. Talking about nothing and everything, about magic, about their past, about the curse that Stephen had bestowed upon him, and about the stone embedded in Tony’s chest and his past... their past, that sometimes looked so similar and yet so distant. Past that forged their soul, in what they were in that moment.

Tony recovered, slowly, but he did, and started to move around the cave, exploring, searching and most of all building, building, building, and building with the same callused hands that during the night moved over the Dragon form so gentle and comforting, building a new bed, a new table, and other little object that helped him during his journey to complete recovery.

“You know?” Tony started one day, while reading an old and dusty book he found in the cave. “I think I can finally go out, explore the surrounding and maybe go to the near village...“ Tony stopped tilted his head and stared at Stephen in his human and very much naked form “_ Could you please put on something _” Tony shrieked, and covered his red face, much to Stephen pleasure in seeing the Omega reaction even after all this time. “Also there is a village nearby, right?” Tony mumbled peeking out from behind his finger, waiting for Stephen to dress.

“Yes” Stephen said sobering up, and going to retrieve one pair of pants from the massive pile he used as a nest. “There is, but…” 

“Mh?” Tony tilted his head up, going to look the Alpha in the eyes. Waiting for something. “Stephen?” Tony continued turning fully to face the other. “You don’t trust me, I know and I can understand, or at last I can try” Tony mumbled lowering his eyes again “You think I don’t see how you follow me around when I try to move away from the cave? How you always hover, in human and Dragon form? How…”

“Please stop” Stephen roared in a booming voice, making Tony freeze with his mouth open, and curl on himself. “Sorry” Stephen said moving on his knees in front of Tony, reaching slowly with his hand to touch the frightened Omega. “I’m sorry” Repeated again, going to cover Tony hand with his, and moving a finger in a soothing way over his palm, waiting for this little sunshine to look at him again. “I’m really sorry.” Stephen repeated again, lowering his head, and finally sitting on the floor.

They both remained silent for some times, just letting the hair settle around them, till a gentle hand reached for his chin, making him raise his head to look in beautiful shiny and golden eyes…

“Gold” Stephen whispered, trying to put all his emotion in that little word, reaching out with his free hand, to touch in the most awed way Tony face. Moving from his soft lips, to his nose and then to his eyes, before cupping the Omega face. “I’m just scared of losing you, my mate” Stephen ended in a whisper going to touch Tony forehead with his, before closing his eyes and basking in the little bubble he just created.

Tony just stared, unable to put the piece together, unable to understand till the last word was muttered and their forehead touched in such loving way. _ Mate _…

“Oh my God…” Tony whispered with the same fascination, finally putting all the piece together, even the smaller and insignificant one. Tony started with a small “_ Oh _” nearly silent, but not for Stephen ears, and then a “OH!” shouted, before going to cup Stephen face in the same way the Dragon shifter was holding his. “That’s why the stone called you, that’s why your voice was alway in my head, but…” Tony stopped and moved a little just to be able to see Stephen in the eyes, without losing physical contact. “this doesn’t explain why you are scared of me going to the village, they are just human, like me.” Tony ended, trying to look the shifter eyes, that morphed from his human to his dragon one. “It doesn’t make any sense.” Concluded in a soft voice tilting his head and losing contact with Stephen warm skin.

“The problem is another.” Stephen started going to take Tony hand in his, squeezing gently before leaving a sweet kiss on both hand. “You noticed that the moment I move away more than few meter away your stone start to flick on and off?” Stephen continued, freeing one hand to put it on the said stone covering completely the light.

“Mh?” Tony just moved his eyes from Stephen face to the stone and back, because he never noticed something like that, even if he felt drained a lot of time, but he thought was because he didn’t recover that well, like he wanted.

“For a genius you are really dumb sometimes.” Stephen laughed at the offended face Tony made in his direction. “I don’t know how, or why but it looks my magic is linked to the stone, and the moment you move too far from me, the connection just cut down and your energy is the only force keeping you alive. I need to find a way to cut this connection, without killing you or myself before you can go out alone, so please don’t go.” Stephen ended, taking a deep breath and moving to sit on the floor at Tony’s feet, putting his face on his lap.

Tony just listened, absorbed every single word Stephen told him, and at the same time tried to remember what he knew about the stone. What could be the link that kept them connected. All of that while his hand moved in Stephen hair, massaging and detangling strand, trying to calm his screaming mind and racing heart.

“I’m sorry my love” Stephen started and then froze, the same moment Tony froze at that word.

“My love?” Tony repeated in a whisper, with a smile slowly growing on his face. “My love” Tony said again, this time leaning down to leave a kiss between Stephen soft hair. “Yes, I am your love, and you are mine.” Ended smiling like a sap.

Weeks, month. Tony didn’t know, because time was something that, detached like they were from the world didn’t mattered anymore. Time was something he didn’t need, not there. There the only thing that mattered was Stephen, and their strange connection.

A stone calling for magic, a soul screaming for his other half. In the end two cursed being finding love, in an unexpected way.

Tony died and was reborn in the same day. All because a stone, all because faith and soulmates.

\-----

_ La bestia e l'uomo insieme dormiranno. _

_ Cullati dal calore e dall'amore per l'eternità resteranno. _

_ Creando un sole per l'umanità. _

_ Un sole che brucerà ed il caos riporterà, quando il suo mondo distrutto sarà. _

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and Kudos are always loved, also if you love to talk to me my tumblr askbox is always open.  
Also, quick question, should I write the smut part? Because I think will help understand few detail.


End file.
